Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Tuesday morning!
President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he will designate Qatar as a “major non-NATO ally,” calling the move “long overdue.” The announcement came during a meeting with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani at the White House.
That designation enables greater weapons sales as well as increased participation in joint exercises and operations. Other MNNAs include Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco, Pakistan, Kuwait and Tunisia.
UAE Ambassadors Yousef Al Otaiba and Lana Zaki Nusseibeh penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal calling for the U.S. to relist the Houthis as a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. “This would help choke off their financial and arms supplies without restricting humanitarian relief for the Yemeni people,” the ambassadors argue. “The Houthis essentially have designated themselves as terrorists — the U.N., U.S. and every other responsible nation and international organization should do the same.”
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Jewish Insider that “Iranian pressure” on the Houthis may have prompted the Yemeni militia group’s recent strikes on the United Arab Emirates, which he called “a very dangerous turn of events,” given that the UAE had previously withdrawn from Yemen.
Reed added, “We just have to make more of an effort to try to stop the humanitarian crisis. And I think the designation [of the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization] is not as critical at the moment as taking positive actions to stop the violence.”
Reed also said that he could be supportive of sending defensive aid, such as an Iron Dome missile-defense battery, to the UAE should the UAE request it. “I think defensive weapons systems are important. Dubai International Airport is one of the most significant transportation centers in that area that could be threatened,” he explained.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), a co-chair of the Abraham Accords Caucus, told JI, “These reprehensible actions are an attempt to jeopardize the progress made between Israel and UAE towards peace, and they warrant a swift response.”
The congresswoman added, “The recent attacks on the United Arab Emirates by Houthi forces in Yemen raise serious concerns about the Biden administration’s decision to delist them as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Since being delisted [as a Foreign Terrorist Organization], the Houthis have rejected good-faith efforts towards diplomacy and targeted innocent civilians in the region… President Biden should immediately reverse the dangerous decision to delist the Houthis as a terrorist organization.”
Ninety-six Jewish federations and Community Relations Councilssent a letter to Senate Foreign Relations Committee leadership urging them to hold a hearing for Deborah Lipstadt, the nominee to be special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, in light of the recent attack on a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.
The letter reads, “This latest, horrific attack makes clear that the Senate must expeditiously confirm this position so that America’s diplomatic corps has an able leader to combat the global threat of antisemitism.”
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing today on the coup in Sudan. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Mary Catherine Phee and USAID Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman are set to testify.
An Amnesty International report released today accusing Israel of apartheid against Palestinians has drawn condemnation from Israel and some U.S. Jewish groups.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry yesterday called on Amnesty International to withdraw the report. “This is a report which would be preferable not to publish at all, given that it does not respect those who truly value and are trying to project human rights,” the ministry said. In a video published to Twitter, the Foreign Ministry accused Amnesty of quoting “lies shared by terrorist organizations.”
“I hate to use the argument that if Israel were not a Jewish state, nobody in Amnesty would dare argue against it, but in this case, there is no other possibility,” Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said.
Jewish Federations of North America President and CEO Eric Fingerhut strongly condemned the report, saying it “promulgates false claims against the Jewish state, irresponsibly distorts international law, and advances hateful and disparaging rhetoric associated with age-old antisemitic tropes, while ignoring or whitewashing violence, terror and incitement committed by Palestinians.”
The Wall Street Journal‘s editorial board slammed the report as “a libel that distorts history” and a “denunciation of the very existence of Israel as a refuge for the Jewish people.”
Actress and TV personality Whoopi Goldberg apologized for making comments about the Holocaust that sparked outrage on a recently aired episode of “The View.” The Shoah, Goldberg said, was about “two white groups of people,” noting that the Holocaust “isn’t about race… it’s about man’s inhumanity to man.”
“I should have said it is about both. As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish people — who they deemed to be an inferior race.’ I stand corrected,” Goldberg tweeted.
“The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waiver. I’m sorry for the hurt I have caused,” she added.
bronx boundaries
Ritchie Torres to pick up Riverdale in latest redistricting

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) speaks at the IAC National Summit at The Diplomat Beach Resort on December 11, 2021, in Hollywood, Florida.
New York Democrats revealed a new proposed redistricting plan on Sunday showing that the 15th Congressional District, now represented by Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), will expand northward to include the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Riverdale. “I am looking forward to representing a congressional district that serves as a bridge between iconic neighborhoods: the South Bronx and Riverdale,” Torres told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel. “Combating antisemitism and advocating for an abiding American-Israeli relationship have long been passions of mine. To have the opportunity to represent Riverdale, in light of those passions, feels like a marriage made in heaven.”
Vote of confidence: Torres, a former New York City councilman who has already built a sizable Jewish support base, is no stranger to Riverdale. “He is a principled, independent-minded Democrat who will be an excellent representative of the diverse population that lives in our neighborhood,” former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who lives in Riverdale, told JI. “It will be good to have a congressman who is a liberal Democrat who strongly supports Israel.”
‘Sigh of relief’: Though the map has yet to be finalized, supporters of Torres are coordinating a fundraiser in Riverdale on Feb. 17 ahead of Torres’ first planned trip to Israel as a congressman. “People are excited,” Harry Feder, a former president of the Riverdale Jewish Center who lives in the district and is helping to organize the fundraiser, told JI. “Everyone is breathing a sigh of relief.”
Banishing Bowman? The warm reception stands in contrast with the lukewarm manner in which Jewish community leaders in Riverdale have accepted their current congressman, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), an influential progressive who assumed office last year after unseating a prominent pro-Israel stalwart, former longtime Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY). Bowman has at times found himself at odds with Riverdale’s Jewish community over his approach to the Middle East, which includes support for conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel.
Engel’s angle: For his part, Engel, who is also a resident of Riverdale, said he has spoken with Torres “several times” since he was elected and would be “ecstatic” if the freshman lawmaker were to represent him in the House. “I think, intrinsically, he has a good, warm feeling toward the U.S.-Israel relationship, and that’s just not something that we have seen recently,” he said in an interview with JI. “He’s delighted to have Riverdale, and Riverdale is delighted to have him.”
Rabbinic approval: Rabbi Avi Weiss, the founding rabbi of the Modern Orthodox Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, said he was “delighted” by the possibility that Torres would pick up Riverdale as a result of redistricting. “Torres,” he told JI in a recent email, “is the real deal: a leader who believes in the inestimable value of all people while passionately and unequivocally supporting the State of Israel.”